The Story Behind Chosen Farms: Bringing Healthy, Heritage Kosher Meat to Market

The Story Behind Chosen Farms: Bringing Healthy, Heritage Kosher Meat to Market

by Yadidya Greenberg in The Chosen Blog

I grew up on a kibbutz in Israel, surrounded by animals and farming. Later, my family moved to Boulder, Colorado—known for its natural living culture. In my early twenties, after making teshuvah, I began wondering: Why isn’t kosher meat as healthy, natural, or flavorful as it could be? I wanted to change that.

That journey led me to Frank Reese of Good Shepherd Ranch. I had read about him and his mission to preserve true heritage poultry—strong, pasture-raised birds bred for flavor and health. I went to visit, and we instantly connected over our shared love of animals and religion—Frank a conservative Catholic, me an Orthodox Jew.

Frank on the Good Shepherd Ranch

I processed some of his birds during that first visit, and the taste was unreal—clean, rich, and deeply satisfying. Frank explained the difference between his heritage breeds and the industrial Cornish Cross chickens used in nearly all commercial production. I’d heard about this from other farmers—but then I saw it with my own eyes.

In 2014, I brought 160 of Frank’s birds to a kosher processor in New York (see right). I drove 24 hours straight with them packed into the back of a van. When we arrived, they were healthy and vibrant. The conventional chickens arriving from nearby farms looked lifeless by comparison. The difference was staggering.

That moment made it clear. While grassfed kosher beef had already become more popular by that time, heritage breed pasture raised kosher chicken, kosher heritage turkey, and heritage duck and even kosher goose deserved a place in the kosher market—but raised right, and processed close to home. I spent the next decade working to make that vision real.

In 2023, I bought a farm on the East Coast. In 2024, Chosen Farms launched.

Today, we offer the kind of healthy kosher meat I always dreamed of— healthy, humanely raised, and bursting with flavor. If you’re looking to buy kosher chicken online, or try something rare like heritage turkey or kosher goose, or even grass-fed kosher beef (coming soon) you’ve come to the right place.

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